Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-01-08
Some Famous Easters.


Ing now before the world, excited by recent sue
cessful and unsuccessful attempts to sustain life
mas induced me to state few facts not generally
known In reference to this matter. That life can
6e supported and preserved and the ordinary
ond pea.o =, on diet comparatively simple
ana nmted In amount, is an admitted truth and
accepted ny most persons who have investigated
II; IN q, l3l9 there lived certain Thomas Wood.
forty he INDUCED himself to excess in meat of a
FATTY nature and In large quantities OF those art-
c,es OF diet containing fatty ingredients, such as
cheese butter and sugar, his beverage being strong
ale. He gradually developed into a man of enor-
nous dimensions, and complication after CON-
came alarmed at the inevitable, which stared
him In the face. He gradually cut down his
ale9 3y degrees diminishing his beer to begin with,
anu then those diets containing sugar, and also
animal flesh He ultimately allowed himself only
pudding made OF sea biscuit. With this change
OF Iood an his symptoms disappeared, he became
again. The curious fact is that he abstained from
an drink OF whatever description. The ''sea pud-
Slhg Was ,, composed as follows: three pints Of
one pound OF sea biscuit broken into pieces. This
compound being boiled In cloth for two hours, it
became pudding OF sufficient consistency to be
cut with knife, and on this alone he subsisted for
two years. enjoying splendid health, and with an
absence OF all those disagreeable symptoms be-
lore mentioned. The quantity taken was IL
pounds at five O'Clock in the morning at hts break
last, ana the same quantity at noon for dinner:
alter TINS homr ne abstained from all food until the
next day. The case OF Wood Is beyond all doubt
as TWO clergymen, two doctors, and the church
warden in the parish where be lived all testified to
the truth OF the facts.
Tracing the history I'D OF fasters we come unon
tnat OF John Brown, miner in Ayrshire. He lived
buried In coal mine without swallowing any
thing but small quantities chalybeate water
sucked through straw, this being sufficient to
sustain life, even in a contaminated atmosphere
the nervous excitability being thus diminished,
Is most interesting case, and bears COMPARISON
at the present time with the Italian fasters and
Their wonderful drinks. At Liege some Golfers
were shut up In pit for twenty -four days and
sustained their lives with water alone from a
fountain. Experiments were made ana the water
analysed. 1t was found to contain upon evapora-
ton nothing extraordinary and only lime or what
Is called 'calX." The same constituent Is sup
posed to have existed in the fluid which supported
JOhn brown, as before alluded to. Why should
this not be the same in the case OF the Itaians?-
water impregnaJed with lime suspended in solu-
tion. 1only givett asa theory and think correct
one Elizabeth WOOdcOck, in 1899. lived eight
days on snow water. Cecilia Steers in 1890 live diff
Teen DAYS also on snow water alone. This came from
Q well thirty feet deep, and which had been made
for the purpose OF obtaining chalk. Here we have
another instance OF the ''calx." In 1865 we read
OF three women In Italy, buried for thirty seven
pregnated with lime. In 1895 Yorkshire gentle
man, aged sixty, absolutely was from
taking food for thirty-six days When In health
he weighed 24O pounds, and on the thirty-second
day OF his fast was reduced to 13S pounds In
weight. DR.: william relates a case of an abstainer
living seventy-two days without nOurishment. on
which day he died exhausted He lived only on
water favored with orange juice. Henry Welby,
In 1867. for forty years, though OF great wealth.
never tasted either fish, flesh nor fowl He died
at the ripe old age OF eighty-four. During the
Whole OF bis retirement his chief food was oatmeal
cruel and salad OF cool herbs.
The longest time recorded in the annals of
pnySlc In winch man existed without food was
stxty-one days, the case being that Of a young
man driven mad from overwork. Alexander
Bened1ctuS mentions case at Venice where a
man lived forty days without food. The his
tory OF France states that Louis the P1ous, En-
days without food or drink. AIbertus MagnUs
gives US the record OF woman OF Co
logne, who lived for seven weeks only on water
1t Is said that DemOcrituS lived to the age OF lO9
years, and that in the latter part OF his life for
forty days, he lived on smelling honey and hot
bread: Raui1n relates another case where fifty
Two Gays OF Tasting took place on water alone
The Uedica! Gaxefte for July, 1855, contains two
remarkable Instances; one OF these, patient, is
any food, the mouth be occasionally moistened
with water, tea, or whey, which was not swat
lowed, but spat out. In the other case which was
originally recorded by Prof. Rice of Turin an in.
ability to take food existed for three years There
many traditions In all histories relating to the
means employed by various individuals to support
life during danger and privatiOn. The Indians OF
Asia and America, when they are bound for long
journey where there is possibility of such state
OF ana1rs existing, prepare themselves for emerger
they mix the juice of tobacco with powdered
shells IN the form OF small balls, which they retain
counteract the uneasy craving for food, it having
been proved by experiment that clay introduced
into the stomach relieves hunger. In ITO
woman living on Yarmouth created considerable
excitement and amazement in the world. She was
reported to have lived for seven years and o half
without tasting food, her lips only moistened with
water.
The manuscript department at the British m,l-
scum contains quaint description OF the fasting
OF Jane Hodges Sloan MS, 4,S1D. She lived In the
year 1909 She suffered from hysterical aphOnia
and neither ate nor drank Tor nine weeks SO it is
reported: She was under delusion, and stated
that "she TASTED for the sins OF the people, and
that she was the saviour Of the nations She ultI-
OF the Lancashire fasting girl" Ellen Sudworth.
aged eleven. This is however, not one OF clear ab,
staining from solid food, as She lived on Liquids
and soups We now come to Dr. Tanner the
American physician, who In $780, commenced his
fast OF forty days duration. He apparently COM
p.eted thls and was stated to have benefited to
specalatlon.-DT. Forbes Fi,aslo,O IN Pail Mail
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